Would you rather get the best barrel of your life and nobody sees it or “just a really good one” with all of your friends in the channel? What are your real feelings about Kelly Slater? Hell, how much surf history knowledge do you actually have in that head of yours? What the hell do South Africans mean when they say “now, now?” How do you wax your board and what does your wax pattern say about you?
Your typical major surf contest might not be the greatest place to run around the beach asking competitors questions like this but last month’s J-Bay Classic was a great opportunity for something different. With the right-hander removed from this year’s Championship Tour schedule and local organizers intent on maintaining a contest of some significance in the Eastern Cape province, the WSL specialty event had the top-tier talent of a top-tier contest without all the stress and intensity of a world title race.
Appropriately, Izzi Gomez and McKenzie Bowden grabbed microphones and a cameraman during the event and pestered some of the surfers on tap with a handful of those burning questions above. For the record, Sage Erickson, Mikey February, and Travis Logie all agree it doesn’t mean anything if nobody sees it (the best wave of your life). Admittedly, he has a bit of a point even if you do disagree. Surfers have sullied any and all trust when it comes to sharing the war stories of our best waves and everybody knows each retelling somehow gives another foot (Hawaiian) to that wave of the day. And it seems just about everybody is in agreement: Kelly Slater ain’t actually retiring. He just says so for fun every once in a while.
